celadon
noun·/ˈsɛl.ə.dɑːn/
A pale gray-green color, cool and softened, slightly milky, named for the glaze of certain ceramics and suggestive of jade seen through mist (art; design).
The bowl’s celadon glaze held light the way still water holds sky—quietly, without glare.
adjective
Of that color.
She chose celadon paint for the bedroom, a green that calmed without turning cold.
Etymology
From French céladon, the name of a shepherd character who wore pale green ribbons in a popular 17th-century pastoral romance; the name then attached itself to the admired green of Chinese ceramics in European taste. The word is a lesson in how fashion christens color.
Related Words
jadethe mineral whose hues celadon often evokes
verdigrisanother green, sharper and more metallic
glazethe ceramic medium in which celadon lives
chartreusea greener green, brighter and less subdued